Snap fastener socket



Nov. 22, 1955 P. E. FENTON 2,724,162

SNAP FASTENER SOCKET Filed Aug. 17. 1953 INVENTOR Paul E. Fenton TTORNEYSNAP FASTENER SOCKET Paul E. Feuton, Middlebury, Conn., assignor toScovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation ofConnecticut Application August 17, 1953, Serial No. 374,489

Claims. (Cl. 24-216) This invention is an improved snap fastener socketmember for use in that type of snap fastener combination which iscommonly referred to as a laundry-proof snap fastener.

Although laundry-proof snap fasteners have come into wide use since theinvention of the socket member shown in Fenton Patent No. 2,106,728 theyhave always been found wanting in certain respects especially when theiruse has been extended to garments where the fasteners might be subjectto considerable lateral stress. This was due mainly to the distortion ofthe spring fingers of the socket member beyond their elastic limitsafter which the stud and socket would not snap together properly.

Attempts to meet the problem are exemplified by patents to Dews, No.2,129,825, and Fenton, No. 2,371,813. In

those cases an extra member was provided as armor which added so much tothe bulk and expense of the fastener that it found only a limited fieldof application. The need was obviously for a snap fastener socket of theso-called one-piece type which could be manufactured inexpensively in asingle machine and without requiring assembling operations. It may benoted here that onepiece member means one-piece aside from the prongring which is used to attach it to a garment by insertion of the prongsthrough the garment material into clinching engagement with a breastportion surrounding the spring fingers of the socket member. The wall ofthe breast portion of such a socket member necessarily starts off with alead-in angle for the prongs to take care of slight variations in thelocation of the prongs relative to the socket during the attachingoperation. It must also curve outwardly so as to bend the prongs intoengagement with the retaining rim. This has always required that thebreast wall be so far away from the fingers that there was nothing toback them up so that they might be quite easily distorted when a stronglateral pull was placed on any one of the fingers by the stud.

According to my invention the breast wall is modified in such a way thatthe above requirements for the prong clinching function are fully met,but nevertheless, support will be given to the spring fingers. This isaccomplished by a series of ribs struck inwardly toward the center fromthat portion of the breast wall which surrounds the fingers. Thisresults in complementary grooves on the exterior of the breast wallwhich are so spaced and arranged that no more than one prong can alignitself with one of the grooves. Furthermore, such groove is suflicientlynarrow in comparison with the width of a prong that the prong willnevertheless be deflected outwardly by engage ment with the materialalong the longitudinal sides of the groove. Preferably also there are aplurality of such ribs (or grooves) in supporting relationship to eachfinger so that such finger cannot twist out of position on lateralstressing.

In one preferred embodiment there are four spring fingers and eightribs, two such ribs being spaced about equally from the side edges ofeach finger. This is used in combination with a pronged ring having fiveprongs so United States Patent 0 2,724,162 Patented Nov. 22, 1955 thatno more than one of the prongs may perchance arrange itself in alignmentwith one of the grooves.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will hereinafter more fullyappear.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a snap fastener installation constructedin accordance with the invention and showing a conventional studassembly therewith.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the socket, per se.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the socket member, the Viewtaken along the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a similar cross-sectional view of the same, taken along theline 4-4 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a section of the breast wall of the sockettaken along the line 5-5of Fig. 4 and showing the relative size of oneof the prongs to one of the grooves provided in the outer breast of thesocket.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a snap fastener installation comprising asocket 10 and a conventional stud 11 of circular cross-section. The stud1 1 is afiixed to a sheet 12 in the usual manner as by rivet post 11a.The stud 11 is formed with the usual enlarged head 13 and reduced neck14.

The socket member 10 is mounted upon a suitable support 15 as by meansof an attaching prong ring 16 of the character disclosed in the abovereferred to Fenton patent. The socket member 161 comprises a centralbarrel portion slitted at 27 to provide a series of resilient fingers 17arranged arounda stud receiving opening 17a within an annular breastportion 18 and are integrally joined thereto by a U-shaped connectingsection 19. It is to be noted from Fig. 3 that the fingers 17 extendupwardly from their connecting section 19 in outwardly bowed formationsubstantially axially of the barrel portion and terminate at their freeends in inwardly rolled beads or lips 20 which are in circulararrangement to define the stud receiving opening 17a.

The breast portion 1891 my improved socket consists of portions ofdistinctly different formation, which are, namely, a conical lead-inwall 21, a prong-deflecting wall 22 of relatively large radius joined tothe conical wall 21 by a relatively small or short curve 23 andterminating in an annular rim 24 of U-shape in cross-section. Theconical wall 21 slopes upwardly and outwardly from the connectingsection 19 at approximately 10 to the central axis of the socket member10 and extends in a straight line to a point in the region of thegripping beads 20. This lead-in angle of the conical wall 21 serves tocentralize the prong ring 16 relative to the socket member in theclinching operation.

The prong-deflecting wall 22 extends in a broad arc upwardly andoutwardly in the general direction of about to the socket axis for thepurpose of assuring that the prongs 16a will be properly deflectedoutwardly during the setting operation without danger of piercingthrough or otherwise marring the deflecting wall 22. The annular rim 24terminates in a prong-retaining ring 25 which extends inwardly towardthe conical wall 21 and provides for a hollow space 26 into which theprongs 16a of the prong ring 16 may be clinched during the assembly ofthe socket 10 to the support 15.

In order to provide the right amount of resiliency for the springfingers for releasable and holding engagement with the stud 11, I preferto use four individual fingers 17 separated by slits 27. Also to preventthe fingers 17 from being distorted beyond their elastic limits ifsubjected to any severe lateral strains, a series of radially arrangedribs 28 are formed inwardly from the breast portion 18 of the socket soas to extend substantially axially of the barrel portion and said ribsare of such inward extent as to be spaced approximately .002" to .004"from the outer surface of the fingers 17. It is this distance that thefingers will be permitted to spring outwardly without being distortedbeyond their elastic limits. Preferably two ribs 28 are provided foreach resilient finger 17 and positioned to be equidistant from the edgeof each finger as defined by the slits 2'7. This arrangement of the ribsrelative to the fingers serves to prevent the fingers from being twistedout of their normal circular position to such an extent as to take aset.

In the forming of the ribs 28 into the breast portion by suitableforming tools will as a result form corresponding grooves 28a in theouter wall of the breast portion, one of which grooves is shown in Fig.5.

One of the problems that was present in this socket construction wasthat in setting the socket to the support with a prong ring16 is wasexpected that frequently one of theprongs 16a would align with one ofthe grooves 28a. To assure that a prong so aligned would not puncturethe prong-deflecting wall 22 in the setting operation, the width of thegroove 28a is such to the tapered edge of each prong that the prongedges about one-third the distance from its pointed end as indicated atX will ride along theopposite edges of the groove and consequentlydeflect the prong outwardly sufficiently so that it will not have astraight line impact against the under surface of the breast portion 22and thereby upset the prong in the normal manner as shown in Fig. 1.

While certain changes may be made in the construction as illustratedwhich are well within the skill of the ordinary mechanic, it is intendedthat the foregoing shall be considered in a descriptive rather than in alimiting'sense.

I claim:

1. A laundry-proof snap fastener installation of the type having asocket member adapted for snap engagement with a stud member of circularcross-section, which socket member is attachable to sheet-likesupporting materialby means of a pronged ring having pointed prongsinsertable through the material into engagement with said socket member;said socket member comprising a single piece of sheet metal shaped toprovide a central barrel portion 'slitted to provide a plurality ofresilient fingers which extend substantially axially of the barrelportion,

the free ends of said fingers being turned radially inward- 1y to formstud-gripping beads, said beads being in circular arrangement anddefining a central stud receiving opening, and a breast portionsurrounding said fingers and having its inner lower edge integrallyjoined to said fingers, said breast portion extending from its innerlower edge along an upward and outward slope to provide an anvil surfacefor outwardly deflecting the prongs of the prong ring, said breastportion terminating in a U-shaped annular rim to provide an inturnedretaining ring for the outwardly deflected prongs, and a series ofcircumferentially spaced ribs struck inwardly toward the center fromthat outwardly sloping portion of the breast wall which surrounds thefingers, said ribs extending substantially axially of said barrelportion and sufiiciently close to said resilient fingers to support themagainst undue lateral strain.

2. A socket member as defined in claim 1 wherein the formation of saidribs results in grooves on the prongengaging surface of the breast wall,which grooves are narrower than the intermediate portions of the prongson said prong ring.

3. A socket member as defined in claim 1 wherein the number of said ribsand corresponding grooves is greater than the number of prongs on saidprong ring but is unequal to any multiple of the number of such prongs.

4. A socket member as defined in claim 1 wherein the circumferentialspacing of said ribs and grooves is different from the spacing betweenany two of the prongs of said pronged ring.

5. A socket member as defined in claim 1 wherein there are at least tworibs provided for each finger.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS878,550 Mead Feb. 11, 1908 2,015,049 Carr Sept. 17, 1935 2,440,684Huelster May 4, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 131,029 Germany June 3, 1902

